Real Strength
by Fallen Ark Angel
Summary: Because she doesn't have to be strong for him. Not when he can easily be strong enough for both of them. - One-shot.


Real Strength

"Who told you?"

Bickslow only stood there, on the other side of the door, with his arms crossed. "You should have never tried to hide it from us, Lissy."

"Lissy," the dolls the circled around his head mimicked. "Hide from us, Lissy."

"Bick-"

"Mira did," he said, the visor on his helmet pushed up so he could glare in at her. "Lisanna, do you know-"

"Ugh!" She literally let out a groan then and turned away from him. "She's so stupid! I told her to tell you when you got back from your job that I had taken one and-"

"And what, Lisanna? You know how long it takes for a broken arm to heal? Huh?" He came into the house then as she walked off, closing the door behind his babies. They didn't know that they were really supposed to be upset with Lisanna though and rushed over to follow her. "You think that I would have bought that you were gone that long? Or that Mira would have been able to keep it quiet?"

"Well, not her being quiet about it. I was just hoping to come up with a better lie before she told on me," she admitted as she glanced over her shoulder at him. "I had no idea that she'd only be able to keep it a secret for one day though. Hour, really, as you only just got back into town, right?"

He was ready to be friends just yet again and continued to glare at her. "Why did it need to be a secret, Lissy? That you got hurt? Why did you-"

"I just didn't want you over here, that's all."

"Then say that," he grumbled though he made no move to leave. Only followed her over to the couch, which she laid down on. Pappa and Pippi took to landing on her stomach while the others took to the armrests for a place to land.

"Say that," they mimicked their papa, though he wasn't listening to them. He just kept staring down at his girlfriend, focused on that sling her right arm was in.

"Fine. I don't want you here. Okay?"

"Not okay."

"Bickslow," she whined, but he only shook his head, reaching up to knock his helmet off before setting it on the ground. It was easier to stare her down that way.

"No, Lisanna. How come I couldn't know that you broke your arm? Huh? Did you break it doing something you shouldn't have been?"

She frowned at that and looked back at him. It was so hard for her to take him seriously when they were arguing with that stupid face tattoo of his. Then the way that his tongue naturally fell from his mouth at every chance it got. She wondered at times how he hadn't bitten it off at some point.

"What is there, Bickslow, that I'm not allowed to do? What?"

"I don't know, kid," he grumbled, his eye brows furrowing. "That's how come I was asking!"

"Stop yelling at me!"

"You yelled first!"

"I did not!"

"Did too!"

"Well, I'm sorry, Bickslow, that I'm upset that you just barged in here without-"

"I came to check on you, kid," he growled then, taking another step towards the couch. "You are injured."

"Yeah, Bickslow, I freaking know."

"Why are you mad at me?" he asked as she glared up at the ceiling. "Huh? What did I do, Lisanna, to make you mad? Give a damn about you? Because if that's it, then I can easily remedy it."

"Remedy it," the babies seemed to beg. They didn't understand though so Lisanna didn't hold it against them. "Remedy it."

And he was breathing heavily then while she just kept glaring up at that dang ceiling. He was honestly about to leave her there and give her the ignoring she'd been begging for (only for a few hours, of course, as there's no way he'd really be able to do that), when someone else came into the room from further in the house.

"What's going on with all the screaming, huh? You need something, Lisanna?"

It was Elfman, of course, who came into the living room to check on his baby sister. That annoyed her too though, his question and made her jump up, though she scooped up Pappa and Pippi from her stomach with her good arm first so that they didn't fall.

"I'm fine!" she yelled at her brother as she headed passed him. "So leave me alone! I don't need either of your help. So just leave, Bickslow. And you too, Elfman."

"You too, Elfman," the dolls repeated as they followed her. Seeing this, Bickslow frowned.

"Damn babies," he grumbled, glaring at her and them. "They're supposed to love me. I'm the daddy."

Elfman only stared after his baby sister for a moment before glancing at Bickslow.

"What'd you do to her?" he asked. The seith only shook his head.

"Nothing. I just-"

"And how'd you know she was here then? She said that she didn't want you to know that-"

"So you were in on it too, Elfman? Keeping secrets don't sound too manly," Bickslow told him with a frown as he bent down to grab his visor.

"It's plenty manly!"

Bickslow was more than ready to just leave then. Seriously. But Lisanna had walked off with his babies and he didn't go anywhere without them. Ever.

She was in her bedroom when he found her, laying down on her bed while the babies floated around mostly, save Pappa, who'd taken to Lisanna from the first date Bickslow and she went on. He was laying on her stomach as she stroked the smooth wood of his top even though that had no real affect on him.

"Lisanna," Bickslow grumbled as he came into the room. "I need my babies if you want me to get out of here."

"I can't help it, Bickslow, if they like me better," she told her boyfriend who only huffed. "Make them go if it's that important. Can't you?"

"I could," he agreed. "But-"

"Then do it and get out."

"Get out," the babies told him. "Get out."

"I'm the daddy!" he yelled at them. "So stop going against me!"

"Papa," they whined then all taking to the air, even Pappa, fluttering around him as they tried to make up for whatever they'd done wrong. They never did understand when they were bad. "Papa."

"There," she said, frowning at him. "Now you have them. Can you go?"

"Lisanna." He was becoming exasperated quickly. "What do you want from me? Did you think that I wouldn't care if you got hurt? Then why'd you tell Mira not to tell me? 'cause I do care. A lot. And I was coming to check on you. Figured we could go to lunch. Or I could just hangout with you. But if you're going to be a brat all day-"

"I just didn't want you to know, Bickslow, 'cause…"

"Because why?"

"Why, Mama?" the babies asked, finished with their master then and coming to all land on her bed with her. "Why?"

"I just…I didn't want you to think that I was weak," she told him softly, her eyes trained up at her ceiling then.

"Why would I think that?"

"Because, Bickslow, when you get hurt, it's, like, from something serious. A real hard job or from protecting Laxus. Something real."

"How'd you break your arm?"

"I sort of tripped and fell down the stairs at the guild."

He blinked. "Oh."

"Yeah. And that so stupid because-"

"The only thing that's stupid, kid, is you thinking that I'd care how you broke your damn arm."

He came closer then, but found the same problem he always did when they were at her home. The reason they never went there was, yeah, because her siblings were always around, but also because she only had a twin bed. It wasn't big enough for the both of them. But that was fine in that moment, as he only dropped to his knees next to it, setting his helmet on the ground as he stared at her.

"How could you think, Lissy, that I-"

"Because, Bickslow," she said as Pappa moved from just being on the bed and onto her stomach, where he belonged. "You think, like, people that are weak aren't worth your time. And I try so hard, you know? To make you think that I'm strong? I always make sure me and Elf take real serious jobs now, hoping that you'll notice. I'll try to train with you-"

"Well, you do my warm up run with me and then hold my feet when I do sit-ups," he said. "But I appreciate it."

She blushed then. "Well I train too! Without you. I'm not-"

"Weak," he told her. She thought that he was calling her the word, but after glancing at his face, she realized he was trying to finish her sentence. "You're not weak, Lissy."

"I-"

"You're not." He leaned forwards to rest his head on the mattress, just staring at her until she met his eyes. "And even if you were, it wouldn't matter."

"You always say-"

"I don't like mages that don't try. That are content with never being nothing," he told her. "I don't like people that give up easily. That have a weak mind. A murky soul. But you? You freaking came back from the dead, kid. You did that. And someone that does something like that can't ever be weak.

"Even if you were though, you think that I'd suddenly not want you? Huh? I love you, kid. Don't matter none how strong you are. In fact, I think it's pretty cute when you need me to carry something for you. Or when I'm trying to work out and you're lagging behind on our run. You're the mama. And me and the babies know that means we gotta take care of you."

"Mama," the babies all agreed. She only kept watching him though.

"I just didn't want you to think that I wasn't good enough. I mean, you go out with Laxus on S-Class missions and come back with maybe a scratch. But I couldn't even walk down the-"

"You tripped, kid," he told her, grinning then as his tongue came out of his mouth, flashing his guild marking. "It happens. And even if you broke both arms and a leg fighting some monster or something out on a job, I still wouldn't think you were weak."

"You wouldn't?"

"No," he said, shaking his head slightly. "I'd just got down there and beat the crap outta that monster for thinking he could mess with my babies' mother. Huh, babies?"

He was riling them up again and all, but Pappa took to the air. Lisanna only rolled her eyes.

"You would not. You always-"

"How many times I gotta say it, Lisanna? You don't apply to any of the other rules I give to anyone else. You're special." He stood up then, though he kept staring down at her. "Be happy. You don't have to be strong, alright?"

"But I am, Bickslow. I-"

"You are," he agreed, nodding his head as she sat up. "You're very strong. And even when you're not, when you're weak, that's fine. 'cause I'll be strong for you."

She only blinked though as Pappa, who'd fallen into her lap, took to the air to join the other dolls. "Really?"

"Yeah, kid." He held out one hand and when she took it with her good one, he pulled her to her feet. "I'll be whatever you need me to be. Whenever you need me to be. I have more than enough strength for the both of us. Promise."

She was close enough then that he was able to lean down and rest his forehead against hers.

"So don't hide shit from me, alright? That would have been a real shitty thing to do," he told her. "Not telling me you were hurt."

"It's just a broken arm."

"Don't matter. You still said broke, didn't you?" Tilting his head then, he moved to kiss hers. "I love you. And that means that I fix you when you're broken."

Then they were grinning at one another and, had they been back at his place, he might have weaseled in some fooling around, but they weren't and were quickly reminded of that fact as her bedroom door opened once more.

"Lisanna," Elfman began before he even walked into the room. "I was headed to the guildhall. Did you…two want to go?"

She glanced around her boyfriend then who only frowned at the sound of the other man. "Maybe later, alright?"

He only glanced between her and Bickslow before saying, "Rea men don't sleep with their friend's sisters."

"Elfman! Just go!"

"Jokes on him," Bickslow said as her brother took off when she moved to grab a book off her nightstand to throw at him. "We ain't friends. Not now that he was keeping secrets from me."

"Oh, shut up." She was still blushing though and it only made him grin.

"Alright, babies," he addressed them again, finally. "What sorts of thing you wanna do for Mama today? Since she's hurt?"

"Ice cream," they chanted. That was always a favorite of theirs, which Lisanna found funny, as they couldn't eat it. "Ice cream."

"That sounds good, eh, kid?"

She only sighed, staring at him. "I figured you'd want to stay home all day, since you just got back."

"Nah. A little ice cream won't hurt nothing," he said, throwing his arm around her shoulders, still grinning. "And then we can go back to my apartment, huh? Or do whatever else you want."

After he retrieved his helmet and she slipped her shoes on, they headed out, the babies trailing along. Bickslow talked the whole way, per usual, about the job he'd taken with Freed and Evergreen. And eventually she found herself giggling at him because he always tried to get her to do that when she was feeling down. It usually worked too.

"See, kid?" he said as one point as they walked languidly down the street, neither too hurried. "I even let a little weakling like you walk around in public with me. I've changed a lot, huh?"

"I might have an arm in a sling, Bickslow," she warned, "but I only need one to pinch you."

"Point taken."


End file.
